PHILIPPINE Telegraph and Telephone Corp. (PT&T) plans to venture into various digital initiatives, including the possibility of providing 5G services to customers, even after its failed bid to secure the third telco license in the country.

James G. Velasquez, the company’s president, said his group will “move forward” with plans to transform into a digital company, as demand from an “increasingly digital Philippines” continues to increase.

He said the group plans to “foray into cyber security, smart cities and Internet of Things in the foreseeable future,” adding that the company will be “ready when mobile for 5G comes to the country.”

With a paid-up capital of P10.9 billion, and increased authorized capital of P15.6 billion to make way for future growth plans, the company, Velasquez said, “intends to raise funds that will allow us to compete in the fixed and wireless broadband space, and beyond.”

PT&T is celebrating its 56th anniversary this week and, fresh from the company’s disqualification from the third telco race, the group will continue its growth strategy by expanding its fiber footprint across the country, according to its president.

“Our heritage and technical capability speaks for itself. PT&T is a pillar in the history of the Philippine telecommunications industry,” Velasquez said.

So far, the new management of the company—acquired by Menlo Capital Corp.—has spent about P100 million for the expansion of its network, which currently serves regional areas in Luzon.

“Focus on fixed broadband has yielded positive results and hiring growth. We are going to further expand in both enterprise and SME [small and medium enterprise] and the residential space. We have won several e-services project partnering with the government and will also expand this to cover enterprise and SMEs requirements. We will be ready when mobile for 5G becomes available,” Velasquez said.

For the fiscal year ending June 2018, the company saw its bottom line swinging to a gain to P24.72 million, from a P26.91-million loss a year prior.

It initially vied for the third telco license, but was disqualified after failing to include a certificate of technical capability in its bid. A spokesman has since said that the company is studying all legal means to remedy this, and possibly outbid Mislatel Consortium, which is led by Udenna Corp. and China Telecom Corp. Ltd.

THE Philippine Telegraph and Telephone Corp. (PT&T) is honoring its undertaking with the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) by not seeking an injunction order against the third telco initiative.

Instead, it only sought for relief to annul its alleged “illegal and unjust disqualification” from the process and set aside the “unwarranted selection of Mislatel Consortium” as the third major telco player, PT&T Managing Director Anton V. Gregory said on Sunday.

He said that based on its petition for certiorari, his group just wants the Supreme Court to overturn the decision of the regulator to disqualify PT&T from the process, saying the selection committee “acted with grave abuse of discretion and beyond its jurisdiction.”

Gregory said the committee committed these actions when “it revised the terms of reference in regard to technical capability by applying only to foreign telcos the rule that having a regional scale of telecommunications operations for the last 10 years qualifies as operations on a national scale.”

“Under the terms of reference, that rule applies, without distinction or discrimination, to both local and foreign telcos, which thus would qualify PT&T, the same having operated from Region 4A as an offshoot of the regionalization mandated by President Fidel Ramos in the 1990s,” he explained. So, Gregory said, when the selection committee decided to override this rule, it committed graft, which is “does injury to local telcos while giving unwarranted advantage and preference to foreign telcos through manifest partiality and evident bad faith.”

PHILIPPINE Telegraph and Telephone Corp. (PT&T) is poised to foray into digital payments with its new deal with Paynamics Technologies, Inc.

The listed company said in a statement on Wednesday it signed a partnership agreement with electronic payment solutions provider Paynamics to further PT&T’s goal to become a digital services provider.

“PT&T’s 10,000 kilometers of 100% fiber allows for seamless connectivity while Paynamics has an extensive payment processing network that offers multi-channel pay-in and pay-out options. As commercial brands and government agencies rush to make their products and services available online, consumers require reliable internet services and secure digital payment services now more than ever,” the company said.

PT&T said it tapped Paynamics because of its flexibility and scalability.

In its website, Paynamics said it has created an internet payment gateway system called “Paygate,” which is used as the “last mile connection” for merchants trying to connect to banks.

“We are highly confident in the strategic vision of the new PT&T management. We are excited to bring our payment solutions to more Filipino business organizations through PT&T’s 100% fiber network,” Paynamics Chairman and Founder Ronald P. Magleo was quoted as saying.

After it lost its bid to become the country’s third major telco player, PT&T said it wants to become a “digital services provider offering a wide range of telecommunications and IT services.”

While the company still has a case filed before the Supreme Court seeking to overturn its disqualification in the government’s bidding, PT&T said among its plans is to raise P7 billion in the next two years to fund its network expansion project.

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine Telegraph and Telephone Corp. (PT&T) has filed an amended Petition for Certiorari with the Supreme Court to strengthen its arguments in its case against the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) and the new major player selection committee.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, the listed company said its board of directors approved the filing of an amended Petition for Certiorari with the SC on Wednesday. The amended Petition for Certiorari was filed with the SC on the same day.

On Nov. 16, PT&T filed a Petition for Certiorari of even date with the SC assailing the acts the NTC and the NMP selection committee committed during the selection process for the new major player in the Philippine telecommunications market.

PT&T in its original petition argued that the NMP selection committee acted with grave abuse of discretion and beyond its jurisdiction when it revised the terms of reference in regard to technical capability by applying only to foreign telcos the rule that having a regional scale of telecommunications operations for the last 10 years qualifies as operations on a national scale.

“The NMP selection committee has no legal authority to change the terms of reference which were earlier issued by the NTC En Banc with the help of the Oversight Committee and the Philippine Competition Commission. That unauthorized revision is void for such lack of legal authority and also because it violated the provision in the Constitution on the equal protection of the laws by unfairly discriminating against local telcos while favoring foreign ones,” PT&T said.

“It is also void for being violative of Republic Act 3019 (Anti-Graft Law), causing as it does injury to local telcos while giving unwarranted advantage and preference to foreign telcos thru manifest partiality and evident bad faith,” it added.

PT&T has earlier clarified that it has not asked the SC for a temporary restraining order or an injunction to stop the selection process for the third telco.

PT&T’s petition with the SC, it said, seeks the issuance of a writ of certiorari to annul PT&T’s “illegal and unjust disqualification and set aside the unwarranted selection of the Mislatel consortium.”